Here's all the Not Lego sets I bought in 2020!

 Here's all the Not Lego sets I bought in 2020

Hey there brick fans, welcome to my first post in 2021 on my blog Its Not Lego.   As the blog post title indicates, this is just a quick list of all the not Lego building sets I've purchased last year.  

Some sets are knockoffs of existing Lego sets such as the Bela brand 11053 Yacht or 11342 Harry Potter Bus.   Other sets are unique China designs such as the Sembo 102348 SWAT truck or the Urge 10180 Bakery modular building.  I also added a couple of MOC design sets to my collection, including the Jerac TIE Bomber and the Kristel Cast Iron modular building.

On the topic of MOCs, I customized a lot of my own sets too last year.   I converted the King 84008 Green Grocer into a cool police station for my not Lego city.  I used the original Zhe Gao QL0935 set and transformed it into a fully furnished modular building.   You can find more example of my MOC builds on my other blog Bricks and Figs.

Here's the list of sets which I bought in chronological order throughout 2020.   I haven't gotten around to reviewing each building set, but if I did there will be a link next to the set name.

Sembo 102348 SWAT truck

Bela/Lari 11053 yacht

Sluban B0780 Recycling truck   (link)

Sembo 601070 Crab Shop   (link)

Lepin 45012 Rexplorer

Qman 1132 Bun shop  (link)

Bela/Lari 11342 Potter bus (link)

King 84008 Green Grocer

Zhe Gao QL0935 Hill Tavern    (link)

Sembo 107007 Troop Carrier

Sembo 601075 Sakura Tree

Sembo 601303 Ambulance

Lepin 05145 X-Wing

Sembo 601078 Japanese food stalls

MOC 13952 TIE Bomber  (link)

Jack JJ001 Central Perk

Decool 2113 Osprey Chopper   (link)

Bela/Lari 11429 Snowspeeder

MOC C4228 Cast Iron modular

Rael 10004 Bike Shop (unbuilt)

Urge 10180 Bake Shop

Lele Bros 8613 Food cart

Hsanhe 31001 Train station

Xingbao XB01013 Urban village (unbuilt)

Total of 24 sets - average of 2 sets per month during 2020.   As you can see, 2020 kept me pretty busy building with not Lego.   Hopefully it will continue in 2021!

That's it for this quickie post.   Thanks for looking and see you in the next blog post,

Lepin Not Lego Factories Raided by Police in 2019!

Here is the latest news from Weibo about the Lepin factory raid.

"On April 23, with the cooperation of police in Shantou and Shenzhen, the Shanghai police successfully destroyed the criminal gang suspected of infringing the copyright of the “Lego” brand, arrested four suspects headed by Li, and smashed production and packaging. 3 warehouses, warehouses, etc., more than 10 assembly lines, more than 90 production molds, nearly 200,000 manuals, more than 200,000 packaging boxes, more than 630,000 finished products , more than 200 million yuan."

So, it looks like Lepin is shutdown for good.  But what about it's sister company Xingbao, which creates building block sets which are not based on Lego designs?  Will other Lego clone companies such as Bela, Lele and Sembo be targeted next by Chinese police?  The next few months should be of great interest to both Lepin and Lego fans alike.

Lepin 15039 Not Lego Roller Coaster Set Review - Part Two

Hey there!  Sorry it took so long to post my build of the Lepin Roller Coaster 15039.  I bought the set from Shenzhen China (see more about that here) during my vacation to Hong Kong.  After the trip I got sick for a couple of weeks and then I got busy with other things and then just took my time on the build.  

Anyways, here's the pics. Warning!  This is a massive picture dump, so I hope you have some decent internet speed.

Here's the goods, lots of parts bags and the huge raggedy manual.

The sticker sheet looks pretty good, although I haven't applied any of them yet.

Just a glance at the manual, the instructions are probably lifted directly from the Lego version.

Good assortment of minifigs.  The yellow and blue ones have Lepin logo on their back.

The popcorn vendor.

No wonder it took so long to build the roller coaster, there's only a small crew working on it.

This black piece wouldn't fit into the studs, but luckily I had another piece to replace it with.

The gears are really problematic on this set.  Especially the ones in the middle of the pic, and there's three sets of them.   They don't turn very well at all.

Same two guys now working on the other side of the roller coaster.

Almost all done with the signage.

A sudden realization, that this thing is huge.  It's pretty much occupying my whole build table.   Not sure where I'm going to put it after I'm done building it.

A couple of track pieces need to be hoisted in using the Tower crane.

Unfortunately, one of the workers took a tumble, but Emergency services responded right away.  Let's hope he makes a full recovery.

This set comes with a ticket booth and a concession stand.   After building it the first time, I decided to remove the booths.  I mean who eats ice cream and stuff right before you get onto the roller coaster?

Almost done!   Just need to attach the last few pieces of track and hook up the chain.

Big opening day crowds.

Go see the clown to get your tickets.

I moved the height check to the coaster entrance.  It was originally near the steps leading up to the waiting platform.  I figured by that time you had already bought your tickets for the ride that it would suck if you failed to meet the height requirements.  In my build, you would check your height before buying the tickets, to avoid being disappointed.   In the above pic, the roller coaster staff (dressed up as a unicorn), would check to make sure you were tall enough to go on the ride.  If you pass, she opens the gate to let you in.   The brown refuse bin is for patrons to toss out all their food and drink before getting on the roller coaster.

Woo!   Actually my Lepin coaster cars don't glide so easily on the track.

Here's a couple of roller coaster employees showing up for work.

All employees have to wear costumes.  Here are a couple of them in panda bear outfits.  The waiting girl is not impressed.

Heard some strange sounds coming from the gears, maintenance crew going to check it out now.

Another staff member shows up to help with the crowds.  Walkie-talkies let staff give each other help and status.   I put in some yellow barriers to direct patrons back out after riding the roller coaster.  The old way let too many people sneak back in for free.

 There you have it, my Lepin roller coaster build.   I had to rebuild parts of the roller coaster a couple of times because some parts would fall off, especially the gears under the platform where to get on and off.  Some pillars would not stay together so I used longer technic pins through the centers.

At this point I can manually crank the driveshaft and it will drive the chain to move the coaster cars up the track, just not smoothly.  The wheels at the top turn and help to move the cars along, but I think they are the major source of friction on the drivetrain.  In future, I might replace the gears, but for now the Lepin Roller Coaster still makes a nice display model. 

Thanks for spending the time to look at all the pics!  If you have any questions or comments please leave them below.

Set:  Lepin Roller Coaster
Model:  15039
Lego set: 10261 copy
Number of pieces: 4619
Number of minifigures: 11 (construction workers, mascot staff and and extra patrons not included)

My rating score:  3 out of 5 - some parts needed replacing, doesn't function like the real Lego set.  Displays ok though.